With the comeback of the 1980s, some of the fading masters of fashion have been revived. Azzedine Alaïa, one of fashion's legendary designers, was known as the "king of cling" and had a sculptor-like tailoring style. His style influenced the entire 1980s and continues to this day, without being influenced by any so-called fashion.

The Savannah College of Art and Design and the A zzedine Alaïa Foundation in Paris present the exhibition AZZEDINE ALAÏA: L'ART DE LA MODE', on view through October 29, 2022. The exhibition is open until October 29, 2022. Twenty representative pieces of Azzedine Alaya's iconic tight-fitting dresses and classic tailored suits are on display. These beautiful fashions showcase Araya's style and timeless aesthetic. The classic curve tight dresses bring back the aesthetic memories of the 1980s, the era of supermodels. And the beautiful and dynamic exquisite tailoring, against the hard and large silhouette of the 1980s, increasingly highlights the unique fashion charm of Alaya.

In his youth, Araya studied architecture and sculpture at the Tunisian Academy of Arts. This experience gave him a unique vision and aesthetic for the shaping of the human body. After graduating, he turned to the fashion industry, starting as a tailor's assistant, learning the craft of cutting, sewing and ironing clothes, and launching his career in fashion. Araya specializes in the handling and sewing of various materials, whether wool, silk chiffon, leather, knit, velvet, or even metallic materials, he can perfectly blend the materials with the curves of the human body through clever use.

In the exhibition, there is a classic "strappy skirt" that demonstrates Araya's excellent tailoring and three-dimensional shaping skills. Using more than 40 pieces of stretch fabric, he precisely cut and stitched the dress into a corset effect. The stretch fabric corsets the body and lifts it upward, giving the wearer an unparalleled sculptural shape that creates the perfect feminine silhouette, thus attracting many celebrities to become his loyal clients and making him a fashion designer with the perfect body shaping technique.

In this path of "shaping" clothes, Araya was influenced by his predecessors. The tailors of the Western medieval period were skilled in cutting fabrics by hanging them directly on the human body to obtain a more exaggerated shape, and by drawing cords to make the garments fit better, especially by creating the breastplate (coat) based on this. Later on, in the 1930s, Madeleine Vionnet (1912-1989) was the first designer to create a coiffure. Then, in the 1930s, Madeleine Vionnet invented the "bias cut". Cristobal Balenciaga's one-piece construction and the silkworm coat established the new silhouette of modern Western women's wear. Araya's designs were inspired by the work of Cristobal Balenciaga and Madeleine. Balenciaga and Madeleine Vionnet. Vionnet's designs were influenced by Ristobal Balenciaga and Madeleine Vionnet, and added the practicality of dresses to this style.

Araya's recreation of the perfect proportions of the human body came from his early training in architecture and sculpture, on the one hand, and from his love of artwork, which often served as his inspiration. The corbels and vaults of the Alhambra and Gothic churches in Spain often appear in his designs, making the dresses as beautiful as walking architecture. On the other hand, thanks to his decades of handicraft skills, the lifestyle of working women in the 1980s brought a re-examination of the female body shape, and the globalization of aerobics made modern women start to pursue the perfect body again through exercise. As a result, Alaya's tightly shaped women's clothing also became a landmark new curve in the 1980s fashion industry.

Alaia's innovative approach to clothing is also evident in the materials used to create the "tightly interwoven jacquard knit" fabric that he developed in 2013, and the 3D technology that he uses to create the garments in one go, allowing for a perfect blend of silhouette and material. Araya says that wearing Araya's shape-shifting dresses makes him feel like the character in Matisse's "La Danse", who can dance in circles with ease and freedom.

During his creative process, Araya has discovered a group of colored supermodels who are known worldwide. Under his impetus, the 1980s supermodels were achieved, a fashion pinnacle that is still insurmountable. The first black female model to be discovered by Araya was the Jamaican-born Naomi Campbell, known as the "Black Pearl". Naomi Campbell, with her perfect proportions, slender limbs, firm, delicate and shiny black skin. She is not only the world's first super black model, but also the first black person to appear on the cover of British Vogue and Time magazine. She also became the inspiration for Araya's clothing designs.

Alaya changed the history of only white models in the western fashion industry. In time, the influx of supermodels from different regions and races presented a new image of confidence and individuality, making fashion move rapidly towards diversity and globalization. And Araya, who never liked to chase trends, led the supermodels to open a new era of trends.

Article Source:艺术与设计

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